


every day in every way (it’s getting better and better)

by strideofpride



Series: beautiful boy (darling boy) [1]
Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Post Season 7, William Richard Danes is here, ignores AYITL, very dialogue heavy!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:21:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28776711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strideofpride/pseuds/strideofpride
Summary: Rory found herself transfixed by Will again. He had her nose – Lorelai’s nose - but Luke’s chin. He might be only an hour old, but Rory could so clearly see it. He had a nice swath of dark hair on his head and she wondered when he opened his eyes if they would be a blue like Lorelai’s or like Luke’s.Or, Rory gets a little brother.
Relationships: Lorelai Gilmore & Rory Gilmore, Luke Danes/Lorelai Gilmore, background Luke Danes/Lorelai Gilmore
Series: beautiful boy (darling boy) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2109822
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30





	every day in every way (it’s getting better and better)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still very new to writing fanfic (apologies if this is rough) but I made a headcanon for this years ago and figured it was time to finally follow through and write it. 
> 
> This is AU after season 7 and totally ignores AYITL.

Rory stormed into the hospital, trying to take off her coat with one hand, while holding her constantly ringing cellphone in the other. She followed the signs to the maternity ward as fast as she possibly could, almost knocking over an expectant mother in her haste.

After what felt like hours but was really thirty seconds, she finally found the nurse’s station. “Hi, I’m looking for Lorelai Gilmore’s room,” Rory told the nurse in a rush.

“Are you family?”

“Yes, I’m her daughter.” The nurse looked surprised at that but said nothing.

“Room 403.”

“Thank you, thank you so much”. Rory reached out in an attempt to shake her hand, before remembering her hands were currently full. “Sorry, sorry,” she said, flustered. She began to sprint down the hall towards Lorelai’s room, stumbling over herself when she finally made it to the door.

“Did I miss it, did I miss it?” she cried.

Lorelai motioned to the sleeping baby in her arms. “You missed it, kid. Sorry.”

“I left Chicago as soon as I heard,” Rory replied glumly.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up, it’s a fourteen-hour drive. Not your fault the kid decided to be two weeks early.”

“If it makes you feel better, you beat Emily and Richard here,” Luke piped up from the seat next to Lorelai’s bedside.

“How is that possible?”

“I might not have let Luke call them until after the kid arrived,” Lorelai grinned mischievously.

“You’re bad.”

Luke stood up, grabbing Rory’s coat for her. “Here, you sit.”

“Oh no, you must be exhausted.”

“It’s fine, I promised your mom I’d get her some coffee anyway.”

“Finally, no decaf.” Lorelai sighed.

“Breastfeeding.” Luke reminded her.

“Damnit, that’s right. This kid better be worth it,” she joked.

Luke leaned in for a quick kiss. “Be right back.”

“I’ll be right here,” Lorelai smiled back at him softly.

Once Luke was gone, Rory took the seat next to her mother, finally getting her first good look at the bundle in her arms. The baby was more wrinkly than she expected and bright red too. And there was _something_ still stuck to its head that Rory was trying hard to pretend she didn’t notice. She was suddenly struck with the memory of meeting Gigi for the first time but quickly buried that back down. She didn’t want her dad to intrude on this moment, even if he was just in her thoughts.

Lorelai noticed her staring and pointed the sleeping baby towards Rory. “Will, meet one of your big sisters. Rory, this is your brother. _William Richard Danes_.”

Rory felt something wet hit her face and realized with a start that she was crying. “Naming him after your dads? How cliché.”

“Well, Luke didn’t like the idea of a Lucas Jr. Didn’t want me to have a matching set I guess.”

Rory laughed, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. “Yeah, that might be a little weird.” Her phone began to ring again, ruining the quiet of the moment. “Shit, I’m sorry, I meant to turn it off.”

“Nah, it’s fine, this kid has been sleeping like a log. Do you have to take it?”

“No, no, it’s probably just someone from the pool calling to tell me the latest count in Clackamas County.”

“Clackamas,” Lorelai giggled.

“Oh, shut up.”

“Where even is that?”

“Oregon, I think.”

“You don’t know?” Lorelai said in pretend shock.

“There are a lot of Bellwether counties, okay? It’s hard to keep track,” Rory pouted.

“Oh, here.” Lorelai reached for the remote and turned on the news.

“Mom, you don’t have to – “

“No, no, please, I feel bad enough you’re missing the big night all cause of me, let’s at least catch the finale of this shing-ding.”

“You mean a presidential election?”

“Yeah, that!”

Rory turned towards the TV. “And with the West Coast polls closing now at eleven PM, Eastern standard time, MSNBC can now confirm victory for Senator Barack Obama,” Chris Matthews was saying.

“Oh my god!” Lorelai exclaimed. “You did it, he won!”

“Well I didn’t technically do anything, I just covered his campaign – “

“But you know the president now!”

“I did meet him a few times, yes.”

“Can you get me out of parking tickets?”

“Ha ha.”

“Hey…” Lorelai said, turning serious. “For real…I’m so proud of you, kiddo. Will’s proud, too. Aren’t ya, Will?”

“Oh my god, I forgot Will’s baby gift!”

“Oh, it’s no big deal,” Lorelai said, waving her away.

“But it was this really cute elephant…”

“Real or stuffed?”

“Stuffed.” Rory rolled her eyes.

“Well, that’s awful.” Lorelai laughed at the face Rory made. “No, Rory, really it’s fine. I’m just glad you made it here at all.”

“Everything was fine with the birth? Luke did alright?”

“Luke did great in there. Total stud.”

“What are you saying about me?” Luke asked, as he popped back in with two cups of coffee and a box of (probably stale) hospital donuts.

“Just telling Rory what a stud you are,” Lorelai winked.

Luke made a face. “Ah jeez. Don’t be gross.”

“Luke, I think she knows what we did to make the kid – “

“I may be in my twenties, but I can still be scarred, thank you very much.”

“Did you get ahold of Anna?” Lorelai asked, abruptly changing topics.

“Yeah, yeah. She agreed to let April come for Thanksgiving so she can meet this little guy. And Jess is going to try to come up too. Oh, and Liz is making a big stink cause I guess she hadn’t finished her baby gift yet…”

As Luke told Lorelai about Liz and TJ’s latest misadventure, Rory found herself transfixed by Will again. He had her nose – Lorelai’s nose - but Luke’s chin. He might be only an hour old, but Rory could so clearly see it. He had a nice swath of dark hair on his head and she wondered when he opened his eyes if they would be a blue like Lorelai’s or like Luke’s.

“Oh, where are my manners. Rory, would you like to hold your new brother?” Lorelai interrupted her train of thought.

“Oh, uh – “

Without waiting for an answer, Lorelai reached over and plopped the baby in her arms. “Make sure to support his head.”

And just like that, Rory was holding a baby. She couldn’t remember the last time she had done this, if she had ever done this. She might’ve held Gigi, once, but she couldn’t remember, and she didn’t feel like trying.

It was nice. He wasn’t nearly as fragile as Rory thought he would be. In fact, he was kind of a solid presence in her arms. He was so warm. Rory leaned in to sniff his head. He smelled good too.

She looked up to find Lorelai grinning at her. “That new baby smell. There’s nothing like it. I think I kept smelling you for the entire first year of your life.”

“Cause that’s sane,” Luke snarked.

Lorelai reached over to swat him before turning back to Rory. “So kiddo, when do you have to go back?”

“I don’t. In fact, I’m thinking I might stay here, at least through the holidays.” Rory looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms and smiled. “Maybe longer.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
